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HARASSMENT OF BOARD MEMBERS

March 26th, 2012 by mick@sfresidence.com

Homeowners who volunteer to serve on their boards quickly learn they cannot please everyone. Some owners have legitimate complaints, some complain because they love to complain, and a third category turns malicious. The board of a small association in Orange County had close encounters of the third kind and fought back.

The board suffered through years of abuse from a husband and wife. When the couple focused their attention on the president with unrelenting harassment that culminated in threats and 119 harassing telephone calls in less than two months, the president sued the couple.

The trial lasted five days. The twelve jurors were outraged by the couple’s conduct and returned a unanimous verdict awarding the president $1 million in emotional distress and punitive damages. (Avetoom v. Fridman, Case No. 30-2010-00345490.)